Gov. J.B. Pritzker said he would restore automatic annual raises for 14,000 state employees who belong to a union that clashed with his predecessor.

Pritzker said Tuesday that he would sign a number of executive orders on his first full day as governor, including one to restore the annual salary increases to members of the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees Council 31. The step raises aren’t based on merit. Former Gov. Bruce Rauner had frozen the automatic compounding pay hikes when he took office in 2015 because he said lawmakers never appropriated money to pay for them. Rauner wasn’t able to come to an agreement with the union during his term.

In 2018, an Illinois Labor Relations Board compliance officer ordered the state to pay back wages to those union employees. The cost for that could top $412 million.

Pritzker didn’t answer a question about how much it would cost or how it would be paid for. The step increases and back pay weren’t included in the budget approved by lawmakers in May.

“Today, my administration is taking the first steps to move our state forward to have workers’ backs,” Pritzker said at a news conference in Springfield.

Under the measure, union employees “will be placed at their appropriate step for purposes of their pay going forward,” according to a news release from the governor’s office. The measure doesn’t address the back pay issue.

Pritzker also signed an executive order Tuesday he said was to usher in a renewed era of transparency among state agencies. The order directs state agencies, boards and commissions to immediately review their compliance with statutory mandates, come into compliance with data transparency laws, and release all data that is required to be disclosed under state law, as well as review potential voluntary disclosures that would improve transparency and provide plans to address all audit findings of the past four years.

“Good government starts with making the state accountable to its people and ensuring every Illinoisan has access to the services they need,” Pritzker said. “Our state’s hardworking residents deserve to know how taxpayer money is being spent, and I will ensure that transparency is a core value of my administration. By shining a light on how the state is and isn’t living up to its responsibility to our citizens, we can start making real improvements in the lives of families across Illinois.”